1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food products useful for the provision of baked goods. More particularly, the present invention relates to farinaceous dry mixes useful in the preparation of yeasty baked goods.
2. The Prior Art
Conventional home baking methods employing scratch ingredients call for a series of tedious and time consuming dough working and fermentation steps, each of which are essential to the provision of baked goods exhibiting desirable yeasty flavor and texture attributes. By way of illustration, in one cookbook procedure for making bread, the dough ingredients are first mixed in a bowl; kneaded on a dough board (at least 10 minutes); placed in a bowl and allowed to rise about one hour (early proof) until the volume has doubled; punched, rolled, folded (2 to 3 minutes); placed in a bowl and allowed to rise another 1-11/2 hours (intermediate proof) until the volume has doubled again; hand shaped and divided to form units for baking; and next placed into pans and allowed to rise for another 30 minutes (final proofing) to double the volume. The dough is then baked and cooled. Altogether, such processes require from 31/2 to 5 hours, or more, to complete. Even in processes described for so called "quick" yeasty breads in popular cookbooks, a minimum of 21/2 to 3 hours is still required to complete the various steps. Accordingly, there is a distinct need for food products which can provide yeasty baked goods that do not require traditional, odious home baking methods.
Yeast leavened baked goods are desirably distinguished from typical chemically leavened goods by both flavor and texture differences which are generally referred to herein by the term "yeasty." Thus, yeasty baked goods have a bread-like yeast flavor and a bread-like texture. In contrast, typical chemically leavened baked goods are generally characterized by an absence of yeasty flavor and a distinctly different texture and structure, generally referred to as "cake-like." Since the yeasty flavor results in large measure due to the action of the yeast during the fermentation or proofing step and since the yeasty texture results primarily from the kneading step, minimization of the number and length of steps involved in yeasty goods production, particularly fermentation steps and kneading steps, are at odds with desirably providing both yeasty flavor and yeasty texture.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, the prior art includes many attempts at providing such food products. Past art attempts have taken generally one of two tacts: (1) provision of products allowing reduction in fermentation step times, or (2) provision of products allowing elimination altogether of the lengthy fermentation step. The first tact that past art attempts have taken to provide both desirable yeasty flavor and yeasty texture is to provide products requiring only reduced fermentation times. Such attempts to reduce required fermentation or "proofing" times include, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,305 (issued Nov. 2, 1971 to J. R. Rolland) which teaches reduction of bread preparation time by providing doughs incorporating an ascorbate compound, an oxidizing agent, and a sulfhydryl reducing agent. U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,203 (issued Mar. 14, 1967 to C. J. Jenson) teaches fermentation time reduction by dough mixes containing added methionine. U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,312 (issued May 5, 1972 to H. Rupprecht and L. Popp) teaches the addition of active yeast, carbohydrates, and yeast nutrients to doughs to provide fermentation time reduction benefits.
Past art efforts have also taken the second tact, i.e., achieving a yeast-like leavened baked goods texture without yeast fermentation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,568 (issued July 29, 1975 to J. A. Johnson), U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,795 (issued Feb. 23, 1965 to A. A. Andre), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,432 (issued Jan. 26, 1965 to E. E. Colby). U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,568 (issued July 29, 1975) teaches the addition of hydrolyzed wheat gluten, acetic and lactic acids, and C.sub.4 -C.sub.8 monocarboxylic acids to doughs as fermentation compensators. Generally, these patents disclose dough compositions which are chemically leavened and which contain extra, texture modifying ingredients in order to simulate the texture of yeast leavened baked goods.
Given the state of the art for dough mixes for yeasty baked goods as described above, there is a continuing need for new and useful dough mixes for the provision of yeasty baked goods that do not require dough working and extended fermentation steps by the consumer. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide dry dough mixes useful in the provision of yeasty baked goods.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide dry dough mixes which can be used to prepare yeasty baked goods in as little as 30 minutes, said dry dough mixes therefore being referred to herein as "convenience yeast dough mixes."
It is a further object of the present invention to provide dry dough mixes for the preparation of yeasted baked goods exhibiting desirably greater specific volumes.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and superior dry dough mixes provided by formulating a dry mix comprising flour, active dry yeast, a chemical leavening agent, and a gum mixture consisting essentially of propylene glycol alginate and a member selected from the group consisting of karaya gum, guar gum, carrageenan, xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose and mixtures thereof.